So I admit it: I'm a nerd. Maybe not a dweeb or spaz, who knows- but I have a few fascinations which are awkward to try to explain and I think that is all that is required. Once you catch yourself squealing (internally of course) in glee over these following trailers, there is no going back.
First, and probably the oldest of these is The Legend of Zelda trailer
I have to admit it is a bit cheesy, especially once you see the little hat on Link who apparently is Michael Cera's doppelganger, but STILL! I was never great at Zelda considering I just played around on my brother's Nintendo64 (I spent ages trying to get out of that stupid Great Deku Tree!) but I loved the game and it was an exciting little part of my childhood. Now I sort of want to spend the summer tyring to beat the Ocarina of Time, too bad the only game here is the stupid FF X which I lost the game card of all my play on. But yes the trailer is fake :( An independant film was made, which I saw the trailer for and found it a mix between hilariously bad and depressing bad, so I'm not goign to post it, but it can be found at www.theherooftime.com
Next is a super short one put together for a Green Lantern movie.
I was severely dissapointed when I realized that this wasn't real; althoguh it really just took the first notes of Lux Aeterna to make me doubt the clip. Apparently the creator used bits from the likes of Transformers, Daredevil, and Smallville of all things.
A more complex trailer for Green Lantern:
This is some pretty great editing I have to say, but obviously when you can pick out clips from Star Trek, it is a bit hard to suspend your disbelief for a glimmer of hope :) There are in fact a lot of goings on about when a GL movie will be made and there are ideas being tossed around. This site follows that progress: http://green-lantern.moviechronicles.com/
The last trailer I have to show, and one which makes me sooo mad for being obviously phoney is this Thundercats movie trailer
The guy who made this did some pretty intense work. Each frame was individually photoshopped and then the clip run through Premiere! As an artgraphics dabbeler that gives me a sympathy migraine. In reality there is concept work going on for a thundercats movie as well. To see the actual facts on that there is this website: http://thundercats-the-movie.net/
So yes. This was me practicing humility by exposing my geeky tendencies. Don't lie, they so gave you goosebumps.
Wednesday, July 8, 2009
Sunday, June 21, 2009
Make Running Easy and Fun!
I know, I know. Impossible, right?
Well this is something I began looking up on a few weeks ago as my sister convinced me to move my exercise routine from the gym on the elliptical to the outdoors on a trail.
Now I know running can be daunting, and it can continue to be so long as you live whether you are a couch potato, a moderately active person, or even a marathon runner... but guess what?
You don't know how to run.
No, really. You don't know how to run, and this is why: no one has ever told you how!
We learn how to ride a bike, we learn how to kick a ball correctly, or the best way to coordinate breathing and stroking in the water, but we don't ever really learn how to run- we just do it. And that is most people's problem. I mean, why wouldn't we want to know the best way to hold ourselves and how specifically to move just like in any other activity?
Thankfully we don't have to figure out how to do all of that ourselves. Some crazy old man did it already! Russian scientist Nicholas Romanov invented the Pose Method of running to improve performance of the Olympic athletes he coached. People claim that running is infinitely easier when adopting this technique which allows them to not only experience less pain but to also run faster and for longer periods. Most people use a heel-to-toe method and they are working themselves too hard!
The pose is pretty simple- but a bit difficult to articulately explain.
To assume the position:
1. stand straight up (just to begin :))
2. slightly bend your knees
3. stand on the balls of your feet (contact of heels to the ground slows you down and causes too much pressure) DO NOT shift weight onto the toes.
4. lean forward at the waist until almost falling over (to provide forward motion)
5. Flick one foot up at a time toward the buttocks using your hamstrings.
DO NOT kick your feet up hard, as they should naturally raise with little effort
DO NOT ever let your feet cross the imaginary line from your head to the ground
Think of this as almost like how a fish would swim (okay that is totally awful example) You are not using the motion of your legs to cause you to move forward, but rather the angle of your body. The more you lean, the faster you will travel, employing gravity to do some of the work for you. The legs merely serve as a sort of automatic propeller. This form is seen all throughout nature, including in the cheetah and I mean hey, they are pretty fast.
For more info google it, lazy.
Okay so that was the more scientific portion of the post, now for the ridiculous aspect. Fun running tips (some of which are weird and debatably boring)
1. Run with music.. duh
2. Count all of your steps: for the math obsessed
3. Try to run without touching shadows
4. Try to make your whole trip without letting anyone see you: for the spy movie enthusiast
5. Run with a friend or a dog
6. Run to a destination like a pool
7. Try not to run in the same place twice
8. If you live somewhere awesome take a run by the landmarks (I live in DC during the school year and am looking forward to running around the reflection pool at the Washington monument and to running through the National Zoo!)
9. Run to somewhere where there is a reward and then WALK back home, releasing lovely endorphins
10. Sing! It is great for your lungs and is a fun distraction. Also it is great training to prepare for a vocal show
11. Hop, then skip, then run backwards, run sideways, do walking lunges, and repeat.
12. Try to beat your personal best
13. Run with someone attractive, it can be quite the motivator.
14. Run for a cause!
Yay, that is my list.
Have fun!
Well this is something I began looking up on a few weeks ago as my sister convinced me to move my exercise routine from the gym on the elliptical to the outdoors on a trail.
Now I know running can be daunting, and it can continue to be so long as you live whether you are a couch potato, a moderately active person, or even a marathon runner... but guess what?
You don't know how to run.
No, really. You don't know how to run, and this is why: no one has ever told you how!
We learn how to ride a bike, we learn how to kick a ball correctly, or the best way to coordinate breathing and stroking in the water, but we don't ever really learn how to run- we just do it. And that is most people's problem. I mean, why wouldn't we want to know the best way to hold ourselves and how specifically to move just like in any other activity?
Thankfully we don't have to figure out how to do all of that ourselves. Some crazy old man did it already! Russian scientist Nicholas Romanov invented the Pose Method of running to improve performance of the Olympic athletes he coached. People claim that running is infinitely easier when adopting this technique which allows them to not only experience less pain but to also run faster and for longer periods. Most people use a heel-to-toe method and they are working themselves too hard!
The pose is pretty simple- but a bit difficult to articulately explain.
To assume the position:
1. stand straight up (just to begin :))
2. slightly bend your knees
3. stand on the balls of your feet (contact of heels to the ground slows you down and causes too much pressure) DO NOT shift weight onto the toes.
4. lean forward at the waist until almost falling over (to provide forward motion)
5. Flick one foot up at a time toward the buttocks using your hamstrings.
DO NOT kick your feet up hard, as they should naturally raise with little effort
DO NOT ever let your feet cross the imaginary line from your head to the ground
Think of this as almost like how a fish would swim (okay that is totally awful example) You are not using the motion of your legs to cause you to move forward, but rather the angle of your body. The more you lean, the faster you will travel, employing gravity to do some of the work for you. The legs merely serve as a sort of automatic propeller. This form is seen all throughout nature, including in the cheetah and I mean hey, they are pretty fast.
For more info google it, lazy.
Okay so that was the more scientific portion of the post, now for the ridiculous aspect. Fun running tips (some of which are weird and debatably boring)
1. Run with music.. duh
2. Count all of your steps: for the math obsessed
3. Try to run without touching shadows
4. Try to make your whole trip without letting anyone see you: for the spy movie enthusiast
5. Run with a friend or a dog
6. Run to a destination like a pool
7. Try not to run in the same place twice
8. If you live somewhere awesome take a run by the landmarks (I live in DC during the school year and am looking forward to running around the reflection pool at the Washington monument and to running through the National Zoo!)
9. Run to somewhere where there is a reward and then WALK back home, releasing lovely endorphins
10. Sing! It is great for your lungs and is a fun distraction. Also it is great training to prepare for a vocal show
11. Hop, then skip, then run backwards, run sideways, do walking lunges, and repeat.
12. Try to beat your personal best
13. Run with someone attractive, it can be quite the motivator.
14. Run for a cause!
Yay, that is my list.Have fun!
Thursday, June 18, 2009
Downloading: A Biased Opinion
So Thursday a Minnesota woman was given the ruling on a court case in which she was accused of violation of copyright. The woman, Jammie Thomas-Rasset, is a 32 year old single mother of four. She is being charged a total of $1.92 million. And how many songs did she download? Twenty-four. 24. four and twenty. That is about $80,000 per song.
Just a bit harsh I think.
So what lesson does this teach us? Don't download illegally? Not likely. Lets have some honesty here. Most people don't download music, this is true. But when narrowing down to our demographic of computer users to those who have the knowledge of even how to do such a thing, we get into an age range o
f 15-30 (with obvious outliers). Then we take into account who has the money to buy music and can narrow a bit more to 15-22 (especially since past that age most people pretty much have their music collection set). The lower portion of this group of people more often than not is listening to crappy music which I would NEVER spend a dollar on, let alone 80,000 of them. Not of course that that is really an argument, but still.
So here IS an actual argument: Free advertisement.
Guess what? Music is for free everywhere. Youtube is a prime example of this. If one wanted to they could just download a video off youtube and move it to their ipod. Its not hard. For a while there youtube was muting videos with copyrighted music. Stupid. Then youtubers complained, and now we see little popup ads at the bottom of videos, providing links to the itunes store for the song playing. Smart.
The same sort of rule should be applied, but modified.
This holds very true for movies and tv shows. People will download them to watch them, but usually you can't get great quality, or a version which can play in a dvd player. This automatically pushes people to buy the real deal. Companies also have learned to reel people in by putting some great extras on the dvd.
The same has held true for music. Something as simple as great artwork can draw someone in to buying a CD. Offering deals online for whole albums at cheap prices in addition to giving the customer a discount at the band's store or entering them in a contest for tickets to their show. Something. Be inventive. I mean yes, people should support artists and buy their music, and they shouldn't be involved in illegal activities, BUT today is a new age. We are used to getting things fast and free. (I'm honestly more interested in how they are going to deal with newspapers going out of business!)
But even then there is something to be said for the actual act of purchasing art. Many many many times a person will still go buy the CD or DVD even if they first downloaded it and even if there are no *extras* because ultimately our subconscious works us into it. The real product plays into our brains just as having a brand name item of clothing does. It feels official, we have bragging rights, we are supporting who we like, not to mention it is transient and we are a nation of materialists!
You can continue to charge and incriminate people, but the internet and the people who use them are just far too innovative to prevent the transfer of information. So there it is. People are going to do it. You just make yourselves look like douchebags when you freak out about it. Quit complaining about "theoretical dollars", move on.
Just a bit harsh I think.
So what lesson does this teach us? Don't download illegally? Not likely. Lets have some honesty here. Most people don't download music, this is true. But when narrowing down to our demographic of computer users to those who have the knowledge of even how to do such a thing, we get into an age range o
f 15-30 (with obvious outliers). Then we take into account who has the money to buy music and can narrow a bit more to 15-22 (especially since past that age most people pretty much have their music collection set). The lower portion of this group of people more often than not is listening to crappy music which I would NEVER spend a dollar on, let alone 80,000 of them. Not of course that that is really an argument, but still.So here IS an actual argument: Free advertisement.
Guess what? Music is for free everywhere. Youtube is a prime example of this. If one wanted to they could just download a video off youtube and move it to their ipod. Its not hard. For a while there youtube was muting videos with copyrighted music. Stupid. Then youtubers complained, and now we see little popup ads at the bottom of videos, providing links to the itunes store for the song playing. Smart.
The same sort of rule should be applied, but modified.
This holds very true for movies and tv shows. People will download them to watch them, but usually you can't get great quality, or a version which can play in a dvd player. This automatically pushes people to buy the real deal. Companies also have learned to reel people in by putting some great extras on the dvd.
The same has held true for music. Something as simple as great artwork can draw someone in to buying a CD. Offering deals online for whole albums at cheap prices in addition to giving the customer a discount at the band's store or entering them in a contest for tickets to their show. Something. Be inventive. I mean yes, people should support artists and buy their music, and they shouldn't be involved in illegal activities, BUT today is a new age. We are used to getting things fast and free. (I'm honestly more interested in how they are going to deal with newspapers going out of business!)
But even then there is something to be said for the actual act of purchasing art. Many many many times a person will still go buy the CD or DVD even if they first downloaded it and even if there are no *extras* because ultimately our subconscious works us into it. The real product plays into our brains just as having a brand name item of clothing does. It feels official, we have bragging rights, we are supporting who we like, not to mention it is transient and we are a nation of materialists!
You can continue to charge and incriminate people, but the internet and the people who use them are just far too innovative to prevent the transfer of information. So there it is. People are going to do it. You just make yourselves look like douchebags when you freak out about it. Quit complaining about "theoretical dollars", move on.
Pi
I would like to share something with you.
I found this a few years back, and I still find myself strangely hypnotized.
I found this a few years back, and I still find myself strangely hypnotized.
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
Movie Review: The Brothers Bloom
Dear reader, go see The Brothers Bloom (Rian Johnson, 2009)
I went and saw this last week with my sister at her request, and didn't have time to go look up IMDB and check out the specs, and was pleasantly surprised.
I wouldn't call myself a movie snob by any means, I don't wrinkle my nose at going to a movie like Twilight for the pure mindless entertainment, and I am an avid lover of Cane Toads (best documentary ever made). But I will have my degree in film in a few years, and that gives me at least an ounce of credibility, right? I have seen hundreds of films, but I still get all worked up about going to the cinema or renting a movie (or *other* methods) and I think loving it is what really gives me any right to judge them.
I promise not to say too much; I tent to get over excited about things like this. I'm not going to give you a plot synopsis per se, but here is the general idea: Two orphaned brothers Bloom (Adrien Brody) and Stephen (Mark Ruffalo) discover at an early age they have a knack for conning their way to whatever goal they desire. The older designs the elaborate plots whereas the younger (Bloom) seems to do more of the legwork. We see early on that living their life creating relationships is both very isolating and seems to weigh heavily on Bloom. Cut to them grown and experienced with Bloom wanting to get out of his lifestyle. Along with their acquired sidekick Bang Bang (Rinko Kikuchi), a silent Japanese explosives expert, the brothers embark on their last con of an eccentric lonely young millionairess (Rachel Weisz). Enter the love story. I will say no more.
What is great about this movie is it is entirely unpredictable, as you are constantly trying to decide what is a con and what is real, and asking the question "Does it really matter?" We see some great devices throughout, some slapstick comedy, Brechtian distancing paired with ironic results, and the use of symbolism is present but not overwhelming.
Now this might sound pretentious: I absolutely adore the integration of some classic Russian cinematic moments, and they were nicely paired with the whole idea of the Russian novel being similar to the cons, the references to the Russian mobsters for the big finish, and the crazy cameo by Maximilian Schel (who I swore was Sean Connery the whole time!).
The characters are the real beauty here though. They pull you in and you actually like them, as unbelievable as they would seem in the real world. Bang Bang was superb despite only saying three words the whole film, notably: "Campari".
I hate to say "I laughed, I cried", but yes I certainly laughed and had to fight back tears at one point, shh don't tell. Go see it. You will enjoy it immensely even if you know jack squat about film, and will love it even more if you do. I expect good things from Rian Johnson who has only directed one other film (Brick in 2005) and has had pretty solid positive critiques, and he's only 35 so I imagine there will be a lot more coming from him.
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
Awkward Families Part I
My first installment of awkwardness. More to come.
I hope this picture was taken by accident. First off, why is Julie Andrews in this photo? Is this the Von Trapp family in the Sound of Music Sequel: Liesl's revenge? You are 50, going on DEAD. This of course poses the question at to why Liesl here is so angry, and how she is performing the fabled mind control on her brother. And Mr. Man on the left is just screaming wtfery. He is possibly a priest... but I suppose this is his secret family. Perhaps he has gotten away with this by masquerading as a gym teacher.
Simply put: This is why I love gingers (and simultaneously proof they are evil).
And lastly:
This is just sex. All family members are wearing matching Sears shirts. All family members are wearing pink bunny ears- except that is, for Mom. Mom is wearing BLACK bunny ears. Was she a bad bunny? Is that why she is wearing her come-hither face? Well regardless, the one thing which holds firm in logic is the stuffed moose (or perhaps reindeer) she is holding. With that our trust can be reestablished in the normalcy here.
I hope everyone revelled in that.
Check out more photos at http://awkwardfamilyphotos.com
I hope this picture was taken by accident. First off, why is Julie Andrews in this photo? Is this the Von Trapp family in the Sound of Music Sequel: Liesl's revenge? You are 50, going on DEAD. This of course poses the question at to why Liesl here is so angry, and how she is performing the fabled mind control on her brother. And Mr. Man on the left is just screaming wtfery. He is possibly a priest... but I suppose this is his secret family. Perhaps he has gotten away with this by masquerading as a gym teacher.
Simply put: This is why I love gingers (and simultaneously proof they are evil).
And lastly:
This is just sex. All family members are wearing matching Sears shirts. All family members are wearing pink bunny ears- except that is, for Mom. Mom is wearing BLACK bunny ears. Was she a bad bunny? Is that why she is wearing her come-hither face? Well regardless, the one thing which holds firm in logic is the stuffed moose (or perhaps reindeer) she is holding. With that our trust can be reestablished in the normalcy here.
I hope everyone revelled in that.
Check out more photos at http://awkwardfamilyphotos.com
This is Life Changing
Recently a friend of mine directed me to this website: http://www.femalefreedom.ca/
And my life changed forever.
Basically this product is hilarious (albeit useful). It is called the P-Mate, and simply put it lets girls pee standing up! So guys, you may not quite realize the epic win this really is, because let's face it you have the P-Mate v. 1.0, and have never had to deal with pulling off your entire wardrobe when in a tight spot.
The P-Mate is like a cardboard funnel, which is easily placed under your hooha (why I am resorting to strange euphemisms, I don't know) if you just move your panties, and stick the other end out of your shorts/jeans/skirt, pointing where ever you want.
Amazing, huh? No more wet shoes or clothes, awkward squatting, or finding the most remote place possible to pee! I mean it is great for camping, for people like me who go running outdoors, and best of all for drunk girls leaving clubs!
The product is based in Canada, but I am sure it will make it's way down south, or at least will be ripped off by another manufacturer! The P-Mate is biodegradable, made of recycled material, can be folded up, and doesn't get soggy. Basically it is perfect.
Hey! Maybe now we can experience the joy of writing our names in the snow!!!
And my life changed forever.
Basically this product is hilarious (albeit useful). It is called the P-Mate, and simply put it lets girls pee standing up! So guys, you may not quite realize the epic win this really is, because let's face it you have the P-Mate v. 1.0, and have never had to deal with pulling off your entire wardrobe when in a tight spot.
The P-Mate is like a cardboard funnel, which is easily placed under your hooha (why I am resorting to strange euphemisms, I don't know) if you just move your panties, and stick the other end out of your shorts/jeans/skirt, pointing where ever you want.
Amazing, huh? No more wet shoes or clothes, awkward squatting, or finding the most remote place possible to pee! I mean it is great for camping, for people like me who go running outdoors, and best of all for drunk girls leaving clubs!
The product is based in Canada, but I am sure it will make it's way down south, or at least will be ripped off by another manufacturer! The P-Mate is biodegradable, made of recycled material, can be folded up, and doesn't get soggy. Basically it is perfect.
Hey! Maybe now we can experience the joy of writing our names in the snow!!!
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